UK school leaders met with MPs in Westminster earlier this month in a call for additional funding for the education sector.
Speaking at event, figures from across the sector shared examples from around the country, highlighting how schools were being forced to cut down on support for students due to a lack of funding.
Leaders cited insufficient investment stretching back 10 years, with schools now under more pressure than ever in light of the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“The government’s failure to invest in schools is harming the chances of young people. Every area of public services requires additional government money to cope with the impact of the pandemic and to guarantee a successful recovery," said Paul Whiteman, general secretary of the National Association of Head Teachers, a trade union with more than 45,000 members across the UK.
"The education sector is no different, but our research shows that almost a third of school leaders are being forced to make cuts in 2020/21.”
In her recent contribution to The Parliamentary Review, executive headteacher at The Trinity Foundation Claire Gaskin explained that the "funding crisis" had forced schools to save on staffing costs.
"Despite realising efficiencies of spending over time, the schools in our federation are not immune to the national picture of school funding, which is being described as a school funding crisis by many headteachers, governing bodies and unions," she said.
"Continuing low pupil numbers in our part of Shropshire, combined with increased staffing costs, increased pension contributions, increased costs of utilities and services, and reduced government funding in real terms, have put increased pressure on our budgets. In recent years we have made significant reductions to many areas of expenditure, including a significant reduction in support staff, and regrettably in the light of budget information for 2019 and 2020 we could not make further savings without looking further at staffing costs."
The Trinity Foundation consists of three Church of England maintained primary schools based in Shropshire, and Gaskin added that while the school has always looked to avoid redundancies, it has come at the cost of key staff being overworked.
"We are not ones to be defeated and have been keen to avoid any staff redundancies," she said.
"An entrepreneurial approach to generate additional income has been necessary to be able to arrive at balanced budgets, but this has inevitably increased the workload of key staff."
"I am immensely impressed by the way in which senior staff have embraced new challenges to ensure that we continue to offer our children the very best despite the lack of funding. Through service level agreements, the federation now offers a governor clerking service to other Shropshire schools, and we have a directly employed learning support advisory teacher who is available to other schools locally."
